Fundraising Events For Hard-Ons' Blackie

As the Australian music community begins to be informed about Blackie of Sydney punks the Hard-Ons facing huge medical bills and being robbed of future income after being the victim of a bashing last Thursday, plenty of musicians and other industry types are digging deep to help out.

You can do the same; here is a list of events that are happening in order to raise funds for Blackie as he recovers.

MELBOURNE:

A massive show is set to happen at The Tote on Saturday 9 June, featuring Regurgitator, The Meanies, The Spazzys, Dead and Bat Piss. Tickets are $25 + bf and available from Monday 28 May through OzTix.

The Gasometer will be hosting Conation, Useless Children, Counterattack!, White Walls, Daddy Long Legs and Tyrannamen on Sunday 10 June from 7pm. All procees from the show will be donated to Blackie.

SYDNEY:

The Hard-Ons themselves will play the shows that they had scheduled for the end of next week (without Blackie, of course) playing as a special line up featuring founding members Ray Ahn and Keish de Silva, current drummer Murray Ruse and former drummer Pete Kostic. These shows take place at the Annandale Hotel Friday 1 June and Newcastle's Great Northern Hotel Saturday 2 June.

Blackie was set to be playing a show at the Sandringham Hotel days after the incident. He could no longer play, but the show went on and became a fundraiser for Blackie, featuring performances from Michele Madden, Simon Day, Mo Fkn Mayhem and Marcus de Pasquale. They raised thousands!

BRISBANE:

Tim Brennan, owner of Tym Guitars, has offered up two pedals for auction on his Facebook page this morning. Many of Brennan's hand-made pedals are highly sought after and he has offered to make any two pedals from his collection for the winning bidder. This includes the Fuzz Munchkin - a pedal designed in conjunction with the legendary J Mascis, which has been in enormous demand since its limited run was announced late last year. Mascis, reportedly a fan of Blackie's, has approved another Fuzz Munchkin to be made for the purposes of the auction. Bid here - the auction is currently at $1500.

DONATIONS:

Anyone wishing to donate money to help cover Blackie's living expenses as he recovers can do so through PayPal (direct money to rahn666@yahoo.com) or can donate here.

UPDATE:

The band's Ray Ahn has come out in thanks for the support shown thus far and is confident that enough money will be raised for Blackie to live comfortably as he recovers and that further donations will be directed the expenses incurred from the Hard-Ons having to cancel flights and shows.

"I just saw him at the hospital. He looks much better, less like the Elephant man now. He has been told that he will be in hospital until the earliest Wednesday, due to bleeding on the brain. There is a good possibility that he will be financially be OK for the next 2 months while he recovers. I told him so and he was literally speechless. Thank you for all your generosity. Again, if you still wanna donate, it will be put to good use rebuilding Blackie's life and also to help cover band expenses from the cancellation of 8 shows in Australia. Many donations were from other musicians with whom the Hard-ons have had no prior association whatsoever due to the extreme difference in musical genres. The warm empathy is extremely welcome. As for the usual gamut of our fans, I don't know what to say anymore: it's incredible. Let's all hope that Blackie reaches 100% health sooner rather than later. He has vowed to repay everyone by getting back on stage after his recouperation, and rocking his tits off."

Please comment below if you are planning any other fundraising. We'll add details to this page.